►S 3545 
P483 
15 

1912 
)opy 1 




J|LT/\\SipE 



>, >\ESSACES 



^VitWrp H*\A/al't<,a 




Class .^is:^ 

Book /? 4^ .1 Ar. 
fopyrightN" /9^Z 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



EVELYN H. WALKER 



'^ 



UNITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN CENTRE. CHICAGO 

1912 






Copyright 1912 by 
Unity Publishing Company 



[2] 



(g:C!.A3rj0396 



^f|g ^ttsfxratian of most jmb ti|e Compulsion 
of mjmg of ti^esc messages 



[3] 



The spontaneous appearance of two little books of 
verse, by Althea A. Ogden and Evelyn H. Walker, 
prompts this confession and claim from the minister 
of All Souls Church, Chicago. Many if not most of 
these lines were written at his invitation or perchance 
compulsion ; a benignant one, let us hope. Hence this 
prompt assumption on his part of the responsibility 
for the writing and publicity. This confession justifies 
a claim to a part of whatever credit these modest songs 
of faith, courage, and hope may receive. They come 
from hearts in league with a searching eye and an open 
mind, and will appeal to other hearts thus re-in forced. 
Others have given generously of things their hands 
have accumulated, but these women have given of the 
rarer, higher, and more essential accumulations of 
soul; for the Lincoln Centre, like Thebes, was reared 
by the power of the Poet's Lyre. 

Were outside evidence needed to prove what is so 
apparent in the lines themselves, the undersigned would 
gladly testify that they have proved themselves to be 
veritable "Altar-side Messages" and "Bugle Notes of 
Courage and Love." These singers of the new day and 
the free faith have helped to keep the fires burning on 
the altar for most of the three decades that have meas- 
ured the ministry of him who, on the thirtieth anni- 
versary of the church he founded, asks for no clearer 
interpretation of his words or higher demonstration 
of his works then those found in these two books of 
verse for these women have told in measured lines 
much that the minister has tried to say in prose. 

Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 

Abraham Lincoln Centre, Chicago 
All Souls Day, November 3, 1912. 
Thirtieth anniversary of All Souls Church. 



[5] 



CONTENTS. 

Dedication 3 

Foreword 5 

For a Home Dedication 9 

Buddha 10 

Loyalty 11 

Enlisted Soldiers 12 

To a Bunch of Wayside Flowers 14 

A Dream Fulfilled 15 

Flower Wonder 16 

Sweet Peas 17 

Lincoln Soldiers 18 

Ellen T. Leonard 20 

A Wild Rose to a Child 21 

Flower Messengers 22 

Dedication of Abraham Lincoln Centre 23 

Anne B. Mitchell 24 

A. B. M 25 

With a Gift of a Jaeger Blanket 

From a Group of Friends 26 

For an April Wedding 27 

For a Fruit Shower 27 

To E. L., With a Pressed Primrose from Grasmere . .28 

To Ruth 28 

A Valentine 29 

To Mrs. Dean Bangs on Her Eighty-First Birthday . .30 
To James and Elizabeth Smith 

on Their Silver Wedding 31 

To Uncle John in Sickness 32 

A Christmas Song 33 

A Christmas Wish 34 

[7] 



Abraham Lincoln 35 

A Joy Within 37 

Christmas 38 

Esperanto 39 

The Settlers 40 

Charity Dye Celebration 43 

Refugees : 

For the Dead Are the Living Today 44 

Inscription Written in a Guest Book 44 

To C. K. With a Paper Knife 44 

In Dickens Land 45 



[8] 



aitat^^iDe ^ts»mt» 



FOR A HOME DEDICATION 

^ ^ B- 
Air: Ar Hyd-y-nos 

Each day adds its holy burden, 

Trust in the home. 
Every eve will bring its guerdon, 

Rest in the home. 
Toil, brave heart, though storms may beat 

thee; 
Trust, sad heart, for joy will greet thee ; 
Wait, true heart, for love will meet thee, 

All in the home. 

Live, creating love and sharing, 

Ever in the home, 
Every trial nobly bearing, 

All for the home. 
Love is always blest tuition, 
May it find here free admission, 
So, 'twill bring its own fruition, 

Heaven in the home. 

[9] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



BUDDHA 

^ ^ ^ 

We lay our offering at the feet of one 

Who brought the world rich gifts of tenderness, 

That Indian lover of mankind, whose life 

Was consecrate to deeds of gentleness, 

The gentle Buddha, grown the strong thro' love, 

A love so deep that it could conquer love 

And dwell apart in lonely desert ways 

And find its pain sweeter than pleasure was 

If only he might ease his brother's load, 

Give strength to weakness, light to blinded eyes. 

But we would bring a rarer gift today 

Than these mute blossoms with their broken 

stems, 
A gift of love, breath of immortal life, 
The grace and glory of our crescent youth, 
The golden promise of our noontide strength. 
The giving heart, the willing spirit, and the 

helping hand. 

All Souls Church, Chicago 
Flower Sunday, i8p2 



[10] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



LOYALTY 

^ B- ^ 

O rarest joy, when thought leaps forth Hke flame 

From flint, and weds itself to noble words, 
Transcendent power, to paint those high ideals. 

The fairest dreams the spirit-sense affords; 
Or, groping in the darkness for the keys 

Of master-instrument, to touch at last 
The chords that vibrate with new harmonies 

And pour their rapture out, a river vast. 

Alas for us who to our altar-fires 

May bring on holy-days no gift of words. 
Whose unskilled hands may paint no picture rare. 

Who miss the keys that thrill the subtler 
chords. 
A sacred burden is upon us laid : 

Since Love denies the blossoms from her tree. 
Let us not dare withhold from this dear shrine 

Life's consecrated fruit of Loyalty. 



[11] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 
ENLISTED SOLDIERS 

Blow, blow again your bugles, blow 

A call for volunteers. 
And once again, as long ago, 

In the brave bygone years, 
The sword shall from its scabbard leap. 

And men with hearts of flame 
Shall joyfully death's harvest reap 

To save their country's fame. 

Refrain : 

For hope is strong, 
And faith is long, 
And courage wings and heaven: 
And pain is fleet. 
And death is sweet, 
When life for man is given. 

Men sleep not in the graves they won 

For Freedom's holy sake. 
But, watchful for the cause they loved. 

Their deathless spirits wake. 
And breathe again a reveille, — 

"Awake! to sleep no more! 
Up ! bear, ye volunteers of God, 

The burdens once we bore." 

[12] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

Rep-rain : 

For hope is strong, 

And faith is long, 
And courage wings and heaven; 

And pain is fleet, 

And death is sweet, 
When life for love is given. 

Today the reveille awakes 

No echoing cannon's voice; 
Today, thank God, not life and death 

Invoke the hero's choice. 
For life! and only life! more life! 

The ringing bugle pleads, 
To spend itself in nobleness. 

And give itself in deeds. 

Refrain : 

For hope is strong. 

And faith is long. 
And love is wings and heaven ; 

And pain is fleet. 

And life is sweet, 
When all for love is given. 



[13] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

TO A BUNCH OF WAYSIDE FLOWERS 

^ ^ ^ 

Dear common things 
That grow beside the common, dusty road, 
And draw your beauty from a meager soil, 
Glad to forego the bliss of solitude, 
The charm of woodland ways, a flower's own 

right, 
And dwell within the haunts of human kind, — 

Teach me your ways. 
Amidst the tumult of the world of men, 
The din of busy life, I fain would keep 
A heart at rest, serene in Nature's peace, 
A stainless spirit in a world of wrong, 
A trustful face turned ever toward the light, 
The rootlet's sure instinct to seek aright 
And drink the draught of life from common 

earth. 

All Souls Church, Chicago 
Flower Sunday, i8p6 



[14] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



A DREAM FULFILLED 
^ B* ^ 

A child went seeking a gift one day, 

But so blind had been her care 
That she had not thought to begin her quest 

Till the shrine she loved was bare. 

Then she called to the fond old mother, Earth , 
''O Earth! of thy treasures rare 

Bring forth the fairest and fittest one 
A message of love to bear." 

Then the happy mother laughed for joy 
To know that her task was done, 

For a thousand thousand ages ago 
Her work had been well begun. 

For once, when the wise old Earth was young, 
And the ferns grew strange and rare, 

But never the valleys or hill-slopes green 
Did child or blossom bear, 

As she dizzily swung in the tropic haze, 

Asleep on the sky's soft breast. 
The wildest dream that ever came true 

Crept into her heart's still rest, 

[15] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

Too tender and dear for words or song, 

So she kept her secret fast, 
With ferns for beauty and hills for strength, 

Till the dream came true at last, — 

The old, wild dream in the heart of Earth, 

Of blossoms at summertide. 
And a child, that should hold out a hand for 
a rose, 

And should not be denied. 

All Souls Church, Chicago 
Flower Sunday, i8<)'j 



FLOWER WONDER 

B- ^ ^ 

Just the scantiest of soil for rooting, 
Just the homeliest of plain brown seeds, 

Just the common air and summer sunshine, 
That is all the little daisy needs 

To repeat the old, old flower-wonder. 
Ever new and every morning told. 

Cup of green and petals pure as lilies 

Washed in dew, with heart of yellow gold. 

[16] 



ALTAR- SIDE MESSAGES 

Shall the flower shame my human courage? 

What if life be narrow in its hour? 
Gate of gifts in swinging on its hinges 

Never fails to leave the daisy's dower. 

So I bide my blossom-time in patience 
Till I learn to pray the daisy's prayer, 

Asking only wit to change to petals 

That which waits my seeking everywhere. 

All Souls Church, Chicago 
Flower Sunday, i8p8 

SWEET PEAS 

^ ■& "& 

O blossom that longs for the sky, 
O flow'ret that climbs and clings, 

O smile and kiss of the clod, 
O soul that is trying its wings, — 

So would I climb and so cling, 
So would I answer the light, 

So would I trust, and so lie 

On the breast of the Infinite Might. 

All Souls Church, Chicago, 
Flower Sunday, i8pp 

[17] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

LINCOLN SOLDIERS 

B" ^ ^ 
Lincoln soldiers were our fathers, in the name of 

liberty, 
As Christ died to make men holy, as they died to 

make men free. 
We would live to make men noble and would 
dwell in unity. 

As we go marching on. 

Chorus : Glory, glory, hallelujah, etc. 

Lincoln soldiers were our fathers, Lincoln sol- 
diers would we be, 
We would live for Right and Justice as they died 

for liberty. 
We would rim with white the banner that they 
flung above the free. 

As Youth goes marching on. 
Chorus 
We would learn today's new duties from each 

fresh occasion's plea, 
We would lift our weaker brother with our love 

where'er he be^ 
We would hush the mouths of cannons in all 
lands and on the sea. 

As Peace goes marching on. 
Chorus 

[18] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

Lincoln soldiers marching onward in the noon- 
tide's golden glow, 
We would pluck the wayside thistle and would 

lay its proud head low, 
We would plant a flower wherever there is soil 
for flower to grow, 

As Love goes marching on. 
Chorus 



[19] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

ELLEN T. LEONARD 

^ B- ^ 

The grass I loved is greening in the meadow, 
The baby fern uncurls its little frond ; 

The child I clasped with aching arms and tended 
Laughs in his play and waves youth's magic 
wand. 

My lilac buds are thrilling with the chrism 
Of quiet April rains from skies of gray ; 

My tulip bulbs are climbing out of prison, 
My daffodils are bursting into day. 

Shall these frail things live on when my strong 
spirit, — 

The spirit fit to conquer, not to yield, — 
Has ceased to live and love and give its perfume, 

And I am less than flow'rets of the field? 

Nay, I will bide my blossom-time in patience, 
Assured my soul shall rise in Easter bloom. 

And life shall yet renew her ancient springtime 
In that sweet dawn, the Easter of the tomb. 

Easter, ipos 

[20] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

A WILD ROSE TO A CHILD 
^ ^ ^ 

O who would be the gardener's rose, 
Or who would be the trellised vine 

That in a sheltered garden grows 
Or in a city court must pine? 

Fd rather be the prairie bloom, 

I'd choose to be the wild brier rose 

That yields its beauty and perfume 
To every wind of God that blows. 

But gift of man or breath of God, 
Alike the breath of love are we, 

Alike we quicken senseless clod 
And give our all to gladden thee, 

Thou peerless blossom on the tree 

Of life, thou winsome child. 
Whose heart is hallowed with the mystery 

That in our birth hath smiled. 

All Souls Church, Chicago 
Flower Sunday, igo3 



[21] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

FLOWER MESSENGERS 
^ ^ ^ 

God with wisdom made a world, 
With his strength the sky unfurled, 
Made the stars in heaven with power, 
But with love he made a flower, 

Like a kiss upon the brow 
Of his world, completed now 
For the children, to be born 
On some later, gladder morn. 

So, to pass his message on, 
God's own flowers for benison 
Pluck we from their chosen place, 
Woodland home or garden's grace. 

Be the message what it may, 

Love's first dream or end of day, 

At the bridal or the tomb 

Flowers can speak when lips are dumb. 

Messengers of love are they 
All our tenderest words to say ; 
All a burdened heart would tell. 
Trust a flower to say it well. 

All Souls Church, Chicago 
Flower Sunday, 1^04 

[22] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



DEDICATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
CENTRE 

^ ^ ^ 
Children's Day 
"What is yon factory?" said a passer-by, 
''Or warehouse, towering up athwart the sky? 
What business is conducted here ? what trade ? 
What company controls? what goods are made?" 
It chanced the questioner — the fate of few — 
Had asked his question of a man who knew, — 
Proprietor, perhaps, for, unafraid, 
He said, ''A factory, sir, where men are made." 
So he. This is the factory, we are the men. 
When we are finished you'll hear from us again. 
Recited bv Thomas Kent. 



We give you joy, you builders of the temple, 

We of the future greet you gratefully. 
Whoever falters, we will never fail you, 

Your children pledge their love and loyalty. 
And you, the Master Builder of the spirit. 

On whom the whitening crown of years de- 
scends, 
Who bore the noonday heat and toil of conflict 

Undaunted, with the strength that courage 
lends, 

[23] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

We bring the Future to your waiting hand ; 
We are the future, and we understand. 

Recited by Alice Thayer 
May, ip05 

ANNE B. MITCHELL 
^ ^ B- 

Riches hers an Orient Queen 

Well might leave her throne to glean: 

Mayflower of New England spring, 

Butterfly on roving wing, 

Titmouse of the wintry wood, 

Pine-song of the solitude, 

Primrose of the evening hush. 

Whip-poor-will and twilight thrush. 

Fragrance of the Persian rose. 

Dews and mists and slanting snows. 

Tune of brook and hum of bee, 

Pearl of Islam's rosary, 

Ring of Rhineland hammered fair, 

Rune or rubric, old and rare. 

Surges of her island home, 

Stars alight in heaven's blue dome, 

Winding pathway down the glade, 

Sunbeams slanting through the shade, 

[24] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

Wooded depths and river-bar 
And the blue hills dim and far, 
Face of friend and heart of power, 
These made up her earthly dower. 
She was kindred to them all. 
What a joy should this befall, 
What a dawn if she awake 
To a morning that shall make 
Such a glory round her birth 
She shall have no need of earth ! 

A. B. M. 

B: ^ ^ 
Cup of alabaster. 
Fragile, but the Master 

Poured the wine, 
Overflowing measure, 
Choicest of the treasure 

Of the vine. 

Death and Pain have found her. 
Life and Love have crowned her 

For their own. 
Peace, her elder sister, 
Into silence kissed her. 

Sorrow flown. 

[25] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

WITH A GIFT OF A JAEGER BLANKET 

FROM A GROUP OF FRIENDS 

^ ^ ^ 

To J. LI. J. 

When it snows 

And it blows 
And the frost is on your nose, 

When you've preached 

And you've teached 
Till you're tired to your toes, 
And you'd give your very eyelids 

For a quiet little doze, 
When you don't care whether Homer 

Was a poet last or first, 
When you're most as blue as Omar 

Khayyam when he felt the worst, 
Then roll up in your blanket 

And lie down upon your bed 
And forget the weary clatter 

And the clutter Christmas shed, 

But remember 

Ere you slumber 
That our hearts are like the wool. 
Soft and warm^ just like the blanket, 
And of loving service full. 

[26] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

FOR AN APRIL WEDDING 
B* ^ B- 
To M. B. 
Sun a-climbing higher, brooks a-waking up, 

Crocuses a-budding if they dare, 
Morning on the hills chasing shadows from the 
hollows, 
And wedding bells a-ringing everywhere. 

Your wedding bells, you pair of happy lovers ! 

And may they in your hearts forever ring! 
All the glory of the morning may it linger, 

And all your life be one eternal spring. 

FOR A FRUIT SHOWER 
^ ■§: ^ 
To H. Z. 
Dear Helen, clouds are in your sky, 
For loving friends and neighbors 
With showers of jellies and preserves 
Would ease your household labors. 

May all the showers that sweep your sky 
Rain sweetness, dear, forever. 

And all your storms go sailing by 
And wreck your castles never. 

[27] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

And may each cloud, like this of ours, 

Display a silver lining, 
And may a rainbow arch above 

Each teardrop of repining. 

May Sun and Moon and little Stars 
Of heaven keep watch above you, 

And hearts of friends prove leal and true, 
Like ours, because they love you. 

TO E. L., WITH A PRESSED PRIMROSE 
FROM GRASMERE 

^ ^ ^ 

A letter from an English lane, 
A message straight and true, 

I bring, but may not read, for none 
Can break the seal but you. 



TO RUTH 

"a: ^ ^ 

Thou mindest me of all bright things 
That come and go with Spring — 

Anemones, and arbutus, 

And bluebirds on the wing, 

[28] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

And snowdrops, and hepaticas, 
And all the wildwood stores, 

And everything that blooms or sings 
In God's great out-of-doors. 

O radiant spirit of the Spring! 

If Hope thus crowneth thee, 
If Promise prove so rich a dower, 

What shall Fulfillment be? 

A VALENTINE 

^ B" ^ 
O Althea ! 
O my dear! 
Thou who art to Spring so dear 
That her little flowers appear, 

Bud and bloom along thy way, 
And the blossom-time o' the year 
Follows thee from May to May, 
Every little bird is mating 

With his feathery valentine ; 
Why wilt keep me still a-waiting, 
Why must I so lonely pine ? 
O Althea, 
O my dear, 
Why must I so lonely pine ? 

[29] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



TO MRS. DEAN BANGS ON HER EIGHTY- 
FIRST BIRTHDAY 

^ ^ ^ 

From out the folds of night 
The winsome day is born, 

And sunset skies repeat 
The very hues of morn. 

The river of thy years 
For thee, O soul of truth, 

Reflects the sunlit heights 
Of thine eternal youth. 

And now the silence speaks, 
And Day's loud voice is still. 

That hearts may keep in tune 
With thrush and whip-poor-will. 

We have no grief for day 
Although the sun is low. 

So fair the sunset skies. 
So dear the after-glow. 

1907. 



[30] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

TO JAMES AND ELIZABETH SMITH 
ON THEIR SILVER WEDDING 

^ ^ -b' 

Far from purple heather's bloom, 
Bonnie braes of golden broom, 
Far from shamrock's triple sheen 
And the isle of emerald green, 
Half forgetting they had come 
Half a weary world from home, 
Scotia's son and Erin's child, 
In Wisconsin's forest wild, 
For the Work's sake, one glad day, 
Stopped a little while to play. 

Never rest more nobly won ! 
Never toil more truly done ! 
Five and twenty years have past. 
Each one richer than the last, 
Since the marriage vows were said. 
And the marriage runes were read ; 
Five and twenty years have sped. 
Fraught with joys and sorrows wed, 
Manly hopes and woman's fears, 
Love and laughter, toil and tears. 

Take this respite, then, and be 
For a time from care set free, 

[31] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

Take the peace of quiet hours, 
Yours for rest in woodland bowers. 
Halting at the Silver Gate, 
Half-way house of Time and Fate, 
Drink ye at the healing fount, 
Then press onward to the mount 
Where the Golden Gate shall ope 
And Fulfillment crowneth Hope. 

Tower Hill, Wisconsin, 
August y, iCfOJ 



TO UNCLE JOHN IN SICKNESS 

^ ^ B- 

May the earth and sky and sea 

Lend thee gracious ministry. 

Little herbs of wood and field 

For thy pain their solace yield, 

Daily sunshine healing bear 

On the soothing wings of air. 

May thy hurt be charmed away, 

All thy darkness turned to day, 

And each sorrow-burdened hour 

Lightened be with friendship's power. 



[32] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



A CHRISTMAS SONG 

^ -^ ^ 

Ring, bells of Christ, your glad refrain. 

And let the angel song 
That Bethlehem's starry silence woke 

Rise from our lips again — 

Not from the vanished angel bands, 
But woven of children's spells, 

For they will sing the songs of peace, 
And they will ring the bells. 

And they will bring the Christ again. 

And when the angel song 
Is echoed clear in children's hearts 

'Twill sing away the wrong. 

And then the shining wings of peace 

Shall fold us soft and still, 
And Christmas love and Christmas joy 

Our gladdened hearts shall fill. 



[33] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



A CHRISTMAS WISH 

^ ^ B" 

To J. LI. J. 

May this holy Christmas tide 
Bring thee wealth untold, untried, 
Bring thee friendship, love and lore. 
All thy heart hath counted o'er. 
Every gift thy soul hath sought, 
Every joy thy hope hath wrought. 
Lay earth's kingdoms at thy feet, 
Crown thy life a thing complete. 

Nay, if this too little be 

I'll enlarge my wish for thee ; 

Still a nobler hope be mine, 

Still a rarer gift be thine, — 

Heaven's own peace within the breast 

And the treasure in the quest. 

ipo8. 



[34] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

^ ■§- B" 

Infinite patience and pain, 
Infinite sorrow and wrong, 

Infinite loss become gain. 
Infinite hope to the strong. 

Out of the ages he came, 
Out of the turbulent years. 

Born of the stress and the strain, 
Harvest of toil and of tears. 

For freedom, fetters and gyves. 
For conscience, prison and ban ; 

O stern and harsh were the lives, 
And fearful the cost of a man ! 

Till a woman — a forest flower — 
Clasped to her throbbing breast 

The century's sealed dower, 
A man-child for the West. 

A man, to rise in his might 

And rend the shackles that bound 

Fair Liberty, crouching in night, 
By her eldest lovers uncrowned. 

[35] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

What shall we do for the dead ? 

Build him a temple of fame? 
Carve him of marble a bed, 

Garland with laurel his name ? 

There are deeds may be paid of men, 
And to some rewards delay, 

But his gift was measured to him again 
God took him the shining way. 

Read at a Lincoln Centennial Banquet 
at Abraham Lincoln Centre, Chicago, 
February, igop 



[36] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



A JOY WITHIN 
^ B- ^ 

A joy within, a hope ahead 
That springeth still when joy is dead, 
A love that gives, nor, giving, asks 
Return or count of Love's sweet tasks : 

These and the last high gift of heaven, 
The crowning grace to mortals given. 
To see beneath the winter snow 
The violets of April blow, 

To hear within the wintry blast 
The bluebird's song come floating past ; 
If this be thine no grief there be 
Can teach thy soul adversity . 

If this be thine, the grayest skies 
Shall flash in rainbows of surprise, 
And messengers of Sorrow sent 
Shall fold thy heart in sweet content. 



[37] 



ALTAR -SIDE MESSAGES 



CHRISTMAS 

^ ^ ^ 

My thought on this glad Day of days 

Goes wandering everywhere, 
In wonted or untraversed ways 

Where'er a friend may fare, 
That I may follow too, and bring. 

Or send it on before, 
The wish that in my heart doth sing, 

And lay it at her door. 

May Peace, and Love, and Sunshine blent 

Lie on your happy hills 
In splendor, as some sweet intent 

The loving spirit fills ; 
And may they overflow the day 

And flood the hours with Light 
Till all thine upward, toiling way 

With Love and Peace be brie-ht. 



[38] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



ESPERANTO 

^ ^ ^ 
A Free Translation From Doctor Zamenhof 

Thrills the earth with new emotion, 

Through the world a mighty voice, 
On the wings of air and ocean 
Calls the nation to rejoice; 

Bidding sheathe the thirsty sword 
And fulfill the prophet's word, 
Drawing earth's great family 
Into holy harmony. 

Bearing Hope's bright banner forward 

Throng the soldiery of peace. 
Cries the watchman looking starward, 
"Hail the day when war shall cease." 
See the walls of a thousand years, 
Sundering walls, that Time and Tears 
Called eternal, dissolve in the past. 
Battered down with love at last. 

On the broad and fair foundation 

Of a noble common speech, 
Nation speaking unto nation. 

Love shall whisper each to each, 

[39] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

Till the white-rimmed flag unfurled 
O'er a federated world, 
Sign and seal of strife's surcease, 
Bring God's eternal peace. 

THE SETTLERS 

B" ^ B" 

Written for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the 

Village of Spring Green, Wisconsin 

No Paradise our fathers won 
When, following the westering sun 
O'er sea and land to end of day, 
From home and friends a weary way. 
They reached a land of marsh and fen, 
River and forest, rock and glen. 
Where oaks must fall and walls must rise 
Ere firesides glow 'neath alien skies. 

No pleasant tree with fruit for food 
Grew for their use in all the wood ; 
No Tree of Knowledge rich and rare, 
Laden with wisdom, flourished there. 
No Tree of Life — alas ! there grew 
No leaves of healing, stanch and true. 
These they must plant with patient toil 
And wait the growth of a wayward soil. 

[40] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 



'Twas weary planting all the day 
With hunger and fever scarce at bay, 
And Death ahead on a narrow track. 
But they were the men who turned not back, 
They were the men of iron mold 
Who turned not aside for heat or cold, 
For the East had come to the West, 
And the Better must grow the Best. 

They planted on, by day, by night, 
They planted ever, in dark or light, 
Though, light or dark, they might not see, 
Dense with the boughs of the pleasant tree 
Whose fruit is food, the Future rise 
Fair before their children's eyes, 
Dropping plenty till all be fed 
And no child shall cry for bread. 

The Tree of Knowledge planted they. 
And its roots grew deep in the miry clay. 
But 'tis ours to see the branches fair 
Bearing aloft its fruit so rare. 
God speed the day no child of earth 
Shall miss its own by right of birth, 
The Tree of Knowledge of good and ill 
By the 'little red school house" on the hill. 

[41] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

And the Tree of Life, with its healing 

leaves 
For the nation's wounds, whose touch 

retrieves 
The life-long griefs of sorrowing men 
And conjures the spirit of youth again. 
The Tree of Life is the Tree of Peace, 
It shall flourish when war shall cease, 
It shall blossom and bear its seed 
When brothers are brothers in truth and 

deed. 

And now, for those who greatly dreamed 

And planted, though it oft-times seemed 

The seed fell in a darkling void, 

Let praise be unalloyed. 

Our thanks, our grateful thanks be theirs, 

Who broke, though unawares, 

And oft, alas, through blinding tears. 

The bread of Hfe to unknown years. 



[42] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

CHARITY DYE CELEBRATION 
^ ^ ^ 
Prologue 

This is the land of Peter Pan 

Where children wear their wings, 
This is the fairy land of song 

Where even the silence sings. 
When the Queen says, "Be merry," 

We don the cap and bells, 
And the stupidest of us all must help 

To weave her magic spells. 

And tonight she bids us sing our songs 

And make the welkin hum 
To honor one whom honor loves, 

The Queen of Hoosierdom. 
And this is the way we'll do our task. 

We'll show you a pageant bold, 
And we'll make it plain as the sun in a rain 

How she taught the lambs of her fold. 
How the gentle art of poesy 

And the story-writer's skill she woke 
Till sonnets and lyrics strewed the ground 

In ''English as she is spoke." 

Tower Hill, Wisconsin 

[43] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

REFUGEES 
^ ^ ^ 

FOR THE DEAD ARE THE LIVING TODAY 

For the dead are the living today, 

The costly, invincible dead, 
And 'tis well for the living we pray 

That we camp with the ranks of the dead, 

Fighting the battles they fought, 
Bearing the burdens they bore. 

Daring the deeds that they wrought 

On the fields where they gather no more. 



INSCRIPTION WRITTEN IN A GUEST BOOK 

May the Home Spirit in this haven of rest 
Enkindle, as it oft has done in mine. 

The lamp of peace in many a troubled breast, 
A harbor light o'er stormy seas to shine. 



TO C. K. WITH A PAPER KNIFE 

Friends from Lincoln Centre sent it. 
As a sign of love they meant it, 
Meant it for a paper-cutter, 
Not for spreading bread and butter, 

[44] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

Not to make a useless clutter 

On your table, but to say, 

Friends who've loved you many a day 

Love you still, though far away. 



IN DICKENS LAND 

^ ^ ^ 

What tho' the morn be chill and gray. 

And noon's dull tasks be mine, 
If ever at the end of day 

The lamps of evening shine 
Upon that curious, motley band 

With hearts all flame and fire, 
In Dickens Land, that All-Man's Land, 

That Land of Heart's Desire 

Where David and his child-wife dwell, 

And Agnes walks in white, 
And Paul, and Floy, and Little Nell 

Make joy in fields of light, 
And Jo, and Dot, and Tiny Tim, 

And old Scrooge, scorched with saving 
fires, 
And Nance, by love redeemed from sin, 

And Caleb, Prince of Liars, 

[45] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

And Little Dorrit, — flower was she 

Of all that pilgrim band, 
The Angel of the Marshalsea 

And Queen of Dickens Land, — 
The Cricket, and the Carrier's cart, 

The Kettle, that, as kettles do. 
Made bubbling song to cheer the heart, 

And Baby, best of all the crew, — 

All go their way, — I may but name 

Of all that caravan 
My own^ my heart first learned to claim 

And aye to meet them ran. 
But each will bow before his own, 

To some for Love's sweet sake. 
And some for gentle Pity's moan, 

But all for chords that wake 

The slumbering echoes of the heart 

Mayhap in darkness cast. 
The memories that live apart 

In chambers of the past. 
I live again in Dickens Land 

All joy, all grief, all blessed pain. 
And welcome all that life hath spanned 

Of hopes, or fears, or gain. 

[46] 



ALTAR-SIDE MESSAGES 

wealth unstinted in its store, 
If sorrow, loss, or pain betide, 

Unmoved I count thy treasures o'er, 
What need I count beside? 

Whatever Fate denied of Power, 
What magic scroll escaped my hand, 

1 hold of Youth and Love a dower 
Immortal yet — in Dickens Land. 

Read at a Dickens Centennial Banquet 
at Abraham Lincoln Centre, Chicago, 
February 21, ipi2 



£47] 



3F.C 2§ "f^^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



018 360 448 A 



